One day beautious, the next yucky, crappy, icky day that makes me want to stay in my jammies. Welcome to Cape Cod! Yes, it’s Monday. Yesterday we dug up plaster dinosaur bones on the beach (planted for a birthday party); today maybe we’ll paint them. That is a good rainy day project for a 3 year old right? Trying to keep two little ones entertained on rainy Mondays takes a bit of skill that I cannot say that even I can master all the time. They are both running around with runny noses and crappy attitudes (lol), while today is my day to play catch-up. Monday’s list includes laundry, dishes, cleaning up the kitchen that looks as though a twister just went through it, sorting my coupon inserts…..all while keeping the little guys occupied. Today I have a plan.
Here I am on baby number 4 and I cannot believe this idea did not come to me sooner. Ever buy those little puffs for the baby’s first snacks? I loved them for the kids’ first finger foods. The kids liked the puff snacks too, but the containers seemed more entertaining. A while back, Shelby began to peel one of the labels off one of the puff containers. I looked at the shape of the container with the label off and it was like, Ding-Ding, brilliant idea!!! Look:
Anyone else know what I’m thinking???
Holy crap that looks like a bowling pin!! Now if only I had 10 of them. I rummaged through the recycling bin to find 4 more. Over time the last few months I was able to collect 10 of them and I was so excited! I can have a full set now. I bought some red duct tape, cut a small strip off to put over the middle. Look carefully and you’ll see the design is already there…..easy peasy!
I am considering putting some dried beans in the bottom to give a little bit of weight to them and also they will make a cool sound, but then I will be gluing the tops down or that could be a total disaster. I may just glue them anyway because the little blue tops everywhere drive me a little nutty. But what great rainy day fun for the kids!! Even the older kids like to bowl. They now have a bowling alley in the living room, and the pins are portable. Grab any ball and go for it!
We are also breaking out the cardboard play castle today. It has a ton of coloring space on it so we keep folding it up and putting it back in the box for another day. There is only so much coloring the kids can do before they get bored and would rather play inside the castle. Sebastian knows when it’s raining we can play in the castle.
Have you seen these in the stores? They carried them at CVS around Christmastime and retailed for about $19.99. They also had a really cool rocket ship that I was dying to get, but I waited too long and they were gone. I hope they come back this year because I would like to get the kids another one. A great investment for many hours of playtime that entertains even the big kids, something that is always a challenge when there is an age gap.
I’m not always that great with keeping the kiddos attention on rainy days, but I try to keep things on hand to keep them from getting bored. If I don’t have anything they want to do, I have to get creative with what I do have on hand. Ever get into the Play-doh just to find out that someone left a few of the containers open and they are all dried up? Ugh, I hate that. Try making your own play-doh sometime. The kids can choose their own colors and you can even bake it to turn it into a keepsake. We like to do handprints and such with dough too! Or try using food coloring on some of that macaroni sitting in the pantry to make colored macaroni beads. When my children are bored I give them a big laugh, because I can always find something for them to do! There is never a dull moment in this house!
Painting, coloring, and indoor bowling today, maybe some play-dough, who knows what’s in store for tomorrow… I think it is supposed to be just as icky outside around here. How about your plans, what do you like to do with the kids on a rainy day? Do you go shopping, or to an indoor playground? Do you find time to snuggle on the couch and watch a movie, or do you craft with the kids and explore your creative side? Have you recycled anything into a children’s toy lately??
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Clever Catastrophe 